John Lydon: “I had to sell off bits of Sex Pistols publishing just to survive in the ’90s”

John Lydon explains in the new issue of Uncut (dated November 2013), out now, that he was forced to sell some of his Sex Pistols publishing in the ‘90s to keep afloat.

John Lydon explains in the new issue of Uncut (dated November 2013), out now, that he was forced to sell some of his Sex Pistols publishing in the ‘90s to keep afloat.

The Pistols and PiL singer experienced disagreements with his label, Virgin, when he released Psycho’s Path in 1997, which led to his financial problems.

“The record company strangled me to the point I basically wasn’t allowed to record anything,” Lydon says, “until what they’d decided was an outstanding debt was paid back. But how can you recoup the money if you don’t promote the record?

“That became a really heavy, desperate bad situation. Painful. I had to sell off bits of Sex Pistol publishing, just to survive. Just to get through another month. But I came through.”

Lydon talks us through the making of his greatest records, from the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks… to his most recent, last year’s This Is PiL, in the ‘album by album’ feature.